The prelate had previously served as the bishop of the Mar del Plata diocese from 2017 until his appointment to the archbishopric last year.
“In the Eternal City, after confronting some different perceptions with what happened in the Diocese of Mar del Plata from November 2023 to the present, Pope Francis asked me to resign from the See of La Plata,” Mestre wrote.
“With deep peace and total rectitude of conscience before God for how I acted, trusting that the Truth sets us free (cf. Jn 8:32), and with filial and theological obedience to the Holy Father, I immediately wrote my resignation, which was accepted and made public today,” he said.
In a message addressed to the archdiocese itself, Mestre said he had been “very happy these eight and a half months” serving in the archbishopric.
“It pains me to leave, it pains me to leave you as pastor of this Particular Church that is on pilgrimage in La Plata,” Mestre wrote, “but I am sure that God has much better plans that I cannot finish deciphering today.”
Mestre was born in 1968 in Mar del Plata in the province of Buenos Aires. He was ordained a priest of the diocese in 1997 and has a degree in theology with a specialization in sacred scripture from the Universidad Católica Argentina.